Winding-engine



T. S. MILLER.

WINDING ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED'JAN. 2!. 19m.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

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T. S. MILLER.

WINDING ENGINE.

A1PLICATION FILED JAN- 21. 19:0.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

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WINDING ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2|. 1918.

1,313,719. Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

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THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW J ERSEY.

WINDING-ENGINE.

Application filed' January 21, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS SPENCER MILLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at South Orange, in the county of Essex and State ofNew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inlVinding-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in winding engines,and more particularly contemplates a winding engine for use inconnection with captive balloons for holding the balloon anchoring o-rrestraining line, although I desire it understood that said engine isnot limited to said use as it may be employed in any relation orcombination for which its peculiar advantages may render it adapted.

In practice it is usual to wind the restraining or holding line of acaptive balloon on a drum which may be operated to pay out or take upthe rope to regulate the elevation of the balloon, and to haul it downwhen it is desirable to change observers, or in order to escape attackand damage from hostile aeroplanes or pro ectiles. As these balloons mayrise as high as 7000 feet in the air, and must sustain the the weight ofthe observer and the apparatus which it carries, and also of therestraining rope, it is highly desirable that said rope be as light andsmall as possible in order to reduce the weight, that'said rope will besubjected to as little wear as possible, that it will be stored andoperated at the winding apparatus so as to be paid out or taken insmoothly without kink or catching, and that it will berelieved ofexcessive strains due to the sudden jerks to which 1t may be subjectedresulting from gusts of wind causing the balloon to tug or strain onsaid rope.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved slippingfriction driving connection between a winding drum and its drivingmember, which will be provided Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 19, 1919.

Serial No. 213,113.

with automatic means for regulating the pressure orcontact at saidconnection.

My apparatus may be built in various forms and may be such as toaccomplish all the above objects, as well as others. or only a portionof them. For example, by omitting certain parts it may accomplish theresult stated in the last paragraph or by omitting certain other partsit may omit the result stated in the last paragraph while accomphshlngthose stated in the preceding paragraph.

I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention capable ofaccomplishing all of the above objects in the accompanying drawings, tobe taken as a part of this specification, and wherein- Figure 1 is aview in side elevation of an apparatus including a winding engine of mypresent invention for controlling the restraining line of a captiveballoon;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section, of my novel winding engine;

Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of an automatic friction set up gear of myinvention and forming part of said winding engine;

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of a deck block for controlling andguiding the restraining line leading from the engine to the balloon;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view in side elevation of a masthead block for guiding therestraining plate or frame consisting of longitudinal parallel sidemembers 2, 3, and cross-members a, 5, parallel to each other andconnect- 9 is a pinion 11', mounted on a power shaft 12, .journaled inbearings 13 on the bed plate, and carrying at one end a gear 14: meshingwith a pinion 15 on the crank shaft 16 of an internal combustion engine,shown generally at 17. It will be understood that my invention is notlimited to the use of any particular type of motor for supplying powerto the shaft 8, and that other types of motor may be employed inplace'of an internal combustion engine without departing from the spiritand scope of my invention.

Mounted on the shaft 8 is a member preferably in the form of a bushingor shell 18 preferably cylindrical and of such diameter as to provide achamber 19 between its Wall and said shaft, in which chamber is locatedan expansion coil spring 20 surrounding said shaft. One end of saidspring 20 abuts an inner end Wall or head 21 of said bushing or shelllocated adjacent the gear 9, while the other end of the spring abuts asliding abutment member 22 mounted on said shaft and closing the outerend of said bushing or shell, and capable if a sliding movementlengthwise of the shell and the shaft 8. The abutment 22 is held againstsliding movement in one direction lengthwise of the shaft, that is, thatdirection away from the driving gear 9 by means of a thrust block 23mounted in a cross-slot 24 in said shaft 8, and moved in said slotlengthwise of the shaft by means of a screw plunger 25, andlongitudinally alining pin 25*, said plunger having mounted on its outerend a handwheel 26, by means of which said thrust screw is operable tomove the thrust block 28 to move the abutment 22 inward to com press thespring, and thereby increase its force, or said screw may be withdrawnto permit the said abutment to move outward relative to the shell torelieve compression of the spring and thereby reduce its power. I

The force of the spring 20 is exerted against the abutment 22 and theend wall 21 of the shell 18 to move the latter toward the driving member9. The end wall 21 of the shell 18 is provided with outer clutch teeth27, slidably interengaging with cooperating teeth 28 on the drivingmember 9, so that the shell 18 is positively driven by said gear wheel9. The shell or bushing 18 is provided at its outer end with acircumferential flange 29 extending radially therefrom, and

a friction clutch face 30 on provided with thereof, while the oppositethe inner face portion of the driving member 9 is provided with frictionclutch face 31 for a purpose which will be presently described.

Mounted and having bearing on said bushing or shell 18 for rotarymovement relative thereto, is a winding drum 32 provided on its oppositeends with end flanges having outer friction clutch faces 32*, 32 adaptedto frictionally engage the friction clutch faces 30 and 31 respectively,heretofore described, so as to provide for a friction driving connectionbetween the driving member 9 and said drum, and driving force beingfrictionally applied to both ends of v said drum. It will be apparentthat the degree of friction contact between the friction clutch-face ondriving member 9 and the face 32 on the drum 32, and the friction clutchmember and the face 32 on the drum 32 is dependent upon the degree offorce or pressure exerted by thrust mechanism through the spring 20 inthrusting the shell or bushing 18 toward the driving member 9. Thefriction clutch faces just referred to are so constructed that whensuflicient pull is exerted on the drum by a line wound thereon, theywill permit the drum 32 to slip relative to the driving member 9, andthe friction clutch member on the shell 18, and by regulating the forceor pressure exerted by said thrust mechanism the friction contactbetween the drum and its drivthat the drum will slip relative theretowhen.

a pull of sufficient force 2'. e. an overhauling force, is exerted uponthe line wound on the drum. By this provision it will be seen that inthe event the line wound on said drum is the restraining line of acaptive balloon, that the pressure of the friction contact may be soadjusted that the drum will slip relative to its driving means whensubjected to a load less than that necessary to break the restrainingline so that the latter will be relieved of undue strain due to suddenjerks thereon by the balloon or other causes.

The barrel of the drum 32 is made preferably narrow and with a straightor cylindrical face with curved ends about which the restraining linefor the balloon is wrapped for say five or six turns. When the drum isrotated totake up the restraining line the latter coiling upon the drum,slipssidewise thereon. The restraining line as it leads olf the drummust be kept under an initial stress to prevent slippage. This will beaccomplished in a manner to be explained later on.

In regulating the degree of contact or pressure between the frictionclutch members which connect the drum 32 with its driving means, thescrew thrust 25 isoperated to move the abutment 22 inward until thespring 20 is compressed to exert suiticient force to provide suchfrictional contact at said clutches that under normal circumstances,that is, during normal pull on the line, the drum can be revolved totake up the line or hold it without slipping relative to the drivingmeans. If, for" any reason, the tension in the line should be increased,thereby increasing the lead on the drum, so as to overhaul it and causeit to slip relative to its driving means, I provide means which willpermit a certain degree of slipping to take place, and which may then beoperated, preferably automatically, to increase the frictional contactor pressure between the friction clutch faces so that the slipping willbe prevented for all pulls up to approximately the breaking strength ofthe line. For example, if the clutches are set so that no slippingmovement will take place up to a pull of 2000 pounds, and a pullsubstantially exceeding that amount should take place, a preliminary orinitial slipping movement will be permitted so as to relieve the line ofthe pull, and upon this initial movement taking place, should theexcessive pull continue, the degree of frictional contact or pressurewill be increased so as to prevent further slipping action up to thebreaking strength of the line. In order to accomplish this result Iprovide automatic means operated by the initial slipping movement of thedrum to increase the expansive force of the spring 20 and therebyincrease the degree of frictional contact or pressure between the clutchmembers con neoting the drum to its driving means. This means preferablyconsists of a screw thread 33 carried by the outer flange of the drum32' which thread meshes with a pinion 34 mounted on a shaft 35 journaledin brackets 36, 37, fixed to the bed plate. This shaft 35 carries abeveled pinion 38 meshing with a beveled pinion 39 on a horizontallydisposed shaft 40, having bearing as at 41 on the frame, and provided onits outer end with a pinion 42, slidable longitudinally of said shaft41, but feathered thereto to rotate therewith, and adapted to mesh witha gear 43 affixed to the handwheel 26, heretofore described. The pinion42 is provided with a hand grasp 44, by means of which said pinion maybe moved longitudinally of the shaft 41 to place said pinion in and outof mesh with the gear 43. When said pinion 42 and gear 43 are in mesh,rotation of the drum 32 under pull of. the line will serve through thethread 33, and gear connection described, to rotate said pinion to drivesaid gear 43, which in turn revolves the screw 25 to thrust the abutment22 lengthwise of the shaft 8 and thereby increase the force of thespring 20 in accordance with the extent of rotation of the Winding drum,the gear ratio between drum and handwheel will be large, frequently 25to one or 50 to one. It will thus be seen that while the line is beingheld by said winding drum, if a pull on the line should be exertedsufiicient to tend to ovehaul the drum and cause it to slip relative toits driving means, that said thread 33 will operate through theconnections described to increase the frictional contact or pressurebetween said drum and its driving means. The degree to which the forceof the spring 20 will be increased is proportional to the number ofrevolutions, or extent of revolution of the drum, so long as the drumslips the pressure on frictional surface increases. The provision forplacing the gear 42 in and out of mesh with the gear 43 is made in orderthat said thrust may be operated either manually, that is, when saidgears 42 and 43 are not in mesh, or automatically when said gears are inmesh.

The slack end of the restraining line is led from the winding-drum,carried about a guide block 45, and is wound upon a storage drum 46having end flanges 47, said drum 46 being mounted upon the shaft 8concentrically with the winding drum, heretofore described. Provision ismade for driving the storage drum, preferably from the driving gear 9,and consists of a friction clutch surface 48, on said driving gear whichis adapted to frictionally engage a friction clutch surface 49 on theadjacent head of the drum 46, the latter being provided with a hub 50,which turns upon a hub sleeve 51 carried by the driving gear 9. The drum46 is placed in driving contact with the gear 9 by means of thrustmechanism consisting of a cross pin 52 arranged in a slot in the shaft8, and abutting an abutment member 54 slidably mounted on the shaft 8,and housed within an opening in the head of the drum 46. Inside the drum46 is a sleeve 55 which engages the inner end of the hub 50 of the drum46, and is thrust toward said hub by an expansion spring 56 abutting theinner face of said abutment member 54 and an inner end wall 57 on thesleeve 55, whereby a frictional contact between the clutch faces 48 and49 is maintained to a degree established by the expansive force exertedby said spring 56. The initial force of said spring 56 may be fixed byadjusting bolts 58, threaded into said sleeve 55 as at 59, and extendingthrough the abutment member 50 and provided at their outer ends withadjusting nuts 60, which may be operated to pull the sleeve 55 toward,or permitted to be moved away from, the abutment member 50. The crosspin 52 is oper able by a screw thrust 61 to move the said abutmentmember lengthwise of the shaft to compress the spring and provide for aspring force in excess of the initial force established by means of thebolts 58, and to hold said abutment member against outward v 65, betweenwhich movement lengthwise of the shaft under the force of the spring.The function of the drum &6 is to provide for the storage and propertensioning of the slack end of the restraining line which passes fromthe said Winding drum 32, so that said line will be maintained at aproper tension on the wind ing drum to withstand pull exerted on theline by the balloon, or other load producing means. The storage drum isconnected to its driving means by a frictional contact of such degree aswill be-sufiicient to take up the slack end of the line and provide theproper tension on the latter, and for this purpose the frictionalcontact may be set so as not to slip at any point, say below 200 pounds.

The arrangement of slipping driving surfaces is such that the storagedrum may be driven by p wer by slipping elements that will assure therope being coiled upon the drum with approximately a uniform tensionadequate for the proper laying of the rope upon the drum, as well asadequate to maintain the cable from slipping on the hauling drum. Itwill be seen, however, that the rope or cable gets its grip or hold onthe" winding drum 32 by virtue of apparatus whereby the slack side ismaintained atan adequate tension to prevent slipping of the rope on thesaid winding drum. The degree of slipping contact constituting thedriving or holding connection between the storage drum and its drivingmeans is initially set and maintained, but may be regulated at will ifdesired, but the frictional contact between the winding drum and itsdriving means may vary, or be varied, without changing the frictionaldriving contact for the storage drum. In other words, the fI'iC-r tionaldriving contacts between the two drums and their driving means are'controllable independent of each other.

This diameter of the storage drum .is slightly greater than the haulingdrum, hence slippage of storage drum must be continuous.

I have above described the preferred embodiment of the winding mechanismas applied to the operation of a balloon restraining line, and suchmechanism may be used in any situation where the balloon apparatus isoperated, for example, on land, a

vehicle, or on shipboard. In Fig. 1, I have.

shown the winding engine embodied in a balloon controlling apparatusadapted to be arranged on shipboard, in which situation the restrainingline passes from the winding drum beneath a grooved guide wheel 62 atthe base of a mast 63. The guide wheel 62 is mounted between side frames64, between Which is also journaled a lead pulley and said wheel 62 the.rope is passed and led to a head block on the mast. Mounted in the saidside frames 64 toward the former by means of a cam 68 fulcrumed on theframe as at 69, and operable by a hand lever 70. The line in passing tothe wheel 62 runs between said brake blocks, and the latter are operableto brake the line so as to provide the same with an initial tension whenfirst wound upon the hauling drum.

The head block, heretofore mentioned, consists of a frame 71 havingupper and lower pivots 7 2 fulcrumed in bearings 73 on brackets 74fastened to the mast in any suitable manner. The head block includes agrooved pulley wheel 7 5 and a lead pulley 7 6, between which therestraining line may pass, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 7. It may bedesirable to provide the line with hauldown means, in which event I mayemploy a block 7 7 engaging said line and connected by a haul-down line78 to a winding drum- 79 of any suitable construction and mode ofoperation. If desired, the haul-down line may be guided to the drum 7 9by a deck block 80 anchored to a fixed point as at 8-1.

In the above description I have assumed that the engine remainsstationary and that the tension is controlled by the clutches; but theremay be cases where a positive backward or inhauling tension at theengine may be desirable, produced for example, by keeping the motorrunning. In such case it is evident that any backward or inhaul movementof the winding drum will produce a decrease in the frictional holdthereon and a corresponding decrease in the tension.

The apparatus above described contains two generic features of inventionwhich may be used separately or collectively, namely, (1) the automaticmeans for controlling the tension and (2) the compound friction controlby compounding with the slipping friction rip on the winding drum thelesser lip-ping friction grip on the storage drum. That is to say, drum32, may hold up to say 3,000 lbs. before slipping, while the storagedrum 36 may hold upto 100 or 200 lbs. before slipping, or slipcontinuously at say 100 lbs. I therefore do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the presence of both these features nor to the formof construction shown. In fact I have already built and operated anengine containing the first feature, but in which the winding drumperforms also the storage function by being constructed of suflicientdimensions for the purpose, the separate storagedrum and itsappurtenances being omitted.

What I claim and desire to secure by Let- I ters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

drum, and means actuated by the overhaul whereby the resistance to theoverhaul is increased.

2. In combination, a winding drum, a mo tor, a friction between themotor and drum, and automatic means for retarding the slipping movementof the drum when it is overhauled.

3. In combination, a balloon, a holding line, a combined motor andwinding drum admitting of overhauling, and means actuated by theoverhauling movement of the grum to increase the resistance to theoveraul.

4. In combination, a winding drum, a storage drum, a motor, a drivingconnection including a friction between the motor and each drum, meansactuated by the overhaul of the winding drum to increase the resistanceto the overhaul, and a rope stored upon the storage drum and wrappedaround the winding drum.

5. In combination, a balloon, a holding line, a winding drum, a storagedrum, a motor, a driving connection, including a friction between themotor and each drum, and means actuated by the overhaul of the windingdrum to increase the friction hold of said driving connection on thewinding drum, the holding line extending to the storage drum and wrappedaround the winding drum.

6. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, a motor,independent frictions between the motor and drums respectively, andautomatic means for retarding the slipping movement of the winding drumwhen it is overhauled.

7. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, a motor, frictionclutch means for establishing a slipping driving connection between saiddrums individually, and said motor, means for regulating and setting thepressure contact as to said clutch means for the storage drum, and meansfor automatically varying the pressure contact as to the said clutch forthe winding drum.

8. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, a motor, drivingmeans for revolving said drums, means for establishing a drivingconnection between said storage drum and its driving means, slippingfriction meansfor establishing a slipping driving connection betweensaid winding drum and its driving means, and means for automaticallyvarying the degree of friction contact of said friction slipping means.

9. In combination, a windlng drum and a storage drum, a motor, drivingmeans'for revolving said drums, means for establishing a drivingconnection between said storage drum and its driving means,frictionmembers for establishing a slipping driving connection between saidwinding drum and its driving age drum and its driving means, frictionmembers for establishing a slipping driving connection between saidwinding drum and its driving means, and means for automaticallyincreasing the pressure between said friction members upon slippingmovement between said members and manually operable means for regulatingsaid degree of friction.

11. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, driving means forrevolving said drums, means for establishing a driving connectionbetween said storage drum and its driving means, friction members forestablishing a slipping driving connection between said winding drum andits driving means, and means for automatically increasing the pressurebetween said friction members when the load on the winding drum isincreased sufficiently to cause said friction members to slip, andmanually operable means for reducing said degree of friction.

12. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, means for drivingsaid drums, friction members providing a slipping driving connectionbetween said winding drum and its driving means, and means forautomatically varying the pressure between said friction members of saidslipping connection in accordance with the extent of slip between saidfriction members? 13. A winding drum, friction means for driving thesame, and automatic means for increasing the frictional hold of saidfr1c tion means when the drum is overhauled.

14. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, means for drivingsaid drums, a slipping friction drive connection between each of saiddrums and said dIlV- ing means comprising friction members adapted to bein pressure contact, and means for automatically varying the pressurebetween friction members for driving the winding drum without affectingthe driving connection for the storage drum.

15. In combination, a winding drum and a storage drum, means for drivingsaid drums, a slipping friction drive connection between each of saiddrums and said driving means, comprising friction members adapted to bein pressure contact, and means for automatically increasing the pressurebetween friction members for drivin the winding drum without affectingthe driving connections for the storage drum.

16. A winding drum, friction means for driving the same includingmembers WhlCh 18') may slip when overloaded, and means where byoverhauling of the drum operates to increase the pressure between saidmembers.

17. A winding drum, friction means for driving the same includingmembers which may slip when overloaded, means whereby overhauling of thedrum operates to 11'1- crease the pressure between said members, andmanual means for regulating said pressure.

18. A winding drum, friction means for driving the same includingmembers which may slip when overloaded, a spring for maintainingpressure contact between said members, and means whereby overhauling ofthe drum; operates to increase the force of said spring to increase saidpressure contact.

19. A winding drum, a driving element, friction means for.driving thewinding drum comprising a member positively drivenfrom said element, andhaving a slipping friction driving contact with the drum, a spring formaintaining the pressure contact between said member and drum, and meanswhereby overhauling of the drum operates to increase the force of saidspring to increase said pressure contact.

20. A winding drum, friction means for driving the drum includingmembers which may slip when overloaded, and means whereby overhauling ofthe drum operates to prevent slipping movement.

21. A winding drum, a driving element, means for driving the windingdrum comprising a member having a positive sliding engagement with saidelement, and a slipping driving contact with the drum, and means forautomatically increasing the pres sure of the slipping driving contactwith the drum when the drum is overhauled.

22. A winding drum, friction means for driving the drum includingmembers whichmay slip when overloaded, a thrust mechanism for operatingsaid friction means to regulate the pressure between the said members,and means whereby slipping movement between said members acts toincrease said pressure- 23. A winding drum, friction means fordriving'the same including members which may slip when overloaded, aspring for maintaining pressure contact between said members, thrustmechanism operable to increase the force of said spring, and automaticmeans whereby the shppmg movement between 'said members causes thethrust mechanism .toact on said spring.

.24. In combination, a driving element having a friction clutch surface,a member positively driven by said element and having a friction clutchsurface, a drum having'friction clutch surfaces having slipping contactwith the surface on the. driving element and the said member positivelydriven thereby, and thrust mechanism automatically operable by slippingmovement between said friction surfaces to increase pressure contactbetween'said surfaces.

25. In combination, a driving element having a friction clutch surface,a member positively driven by said element, and having a friction clutchsurface, a drum having friction clutch surfaces having slipping contactwith the surfaces on the drivingelement and the member positively driventhereby, a spring for maintaining pressure contact between the frictionsurfaces on said drum and member, and means acting automatically on thespring to increase the force thereof, to thereby increase the pressurebe- 7 regulating the pressure between said friction surfaces, thrustmechanism, and means whereby said thrust mechanism is operated byslipping movement of the drum to increase the spring force to increasethe pressure between said surfaces.

27. A winding drum, friction means for driving the drum includingmembers which may Sllp when overloaded, a thrust mechanism for operatingsaid friction means to regulate the pressure between said members andmeans carried by the drum, to automatically operate said thrustmechanism. when the driving members slip relative to each other.

28. A winding drum, friction means for driving the drum includingmembers which may slip when overloaded, a thrust'mechanism for operatingsaid friction means to regulate the pressure between said members,

- and means carried by the drum to automatically operate said thrustmechanism when the driving members slip relative to each other, saldmeans consisting of gearing for driving the thrust mechanism, and aspiral.

thread driven by the drum for operating said gearing.

29. A winding drum, friction means for driving the drum includingmembers which may slip when overloaded, a thrust mechanism for operatingsaid friction means to regulate the pressure between said members, andmeans carried by the drum to automatically operatesaid thrust mechanismwhen the driving members slip relative to each other, said meansconsisting of gearing for driving the thrust mechanism, and a spiralslip when overloaded, and means whereby thread carried by the drum foroperating overhauling of the drum operates to increase said gearing. thefrictional hold between said members. 30. A winding drum, frictionmembers In testimony whereof I have hereunto 5' for driving the drum;which members may signed my name in the presence of two sub- 15 slipwhen overloaded, andmeans whereby scribing witnesses.

overhauling-of the drum operates to increase THOMAS SPENCER MILLER. thepressure between said members. Witnesses:

31. A winding drum, friction members ERNEST PULsroRD,

10 for driving the drum, which members may JOHN SINCLAIR.

